2011 has been an exciting year for Team Tester racing.  We have competed in five events now, each with their own little bit of soap opera drama!

Posing in the pits at Brands Hatch, May 2011

Our first race of the year was 7th/8th May at Brands Hatch in the Jaguar Enthusiast’s Club Jaguar E-Type Trophy racing against names such as Mike Adams and Tony Jardine.  This was a real test for Jim as he was second driver in both the E-Types we have built.  This was going to mean some slick organisation for the pit stops by Iain!  Andy Dee-Crowne’s car qualified 4th out of the E-Types and Gary Morris 9th.  After an hour of racing the cars finished 8th and 9th.  During the race Andy’s car showed itself to have a faulty fuel vent valve, which meant pitting from 3rd to fix the problem losing any chance of finishing high up.  However both cars finished their maiden races so we were really proud of the weekend’s results.

Lining up for the race at Donington

The second E-Type outing was again in the JEC E-Type Trophy, this time racing at Donington on 29 May.  This particular race included Mr John Cleland, who once had a young whipper snapper for a mechanic on his Vauxhall BTCC car that went by the name of Jim Tester!  During the race Jim had a spin and spectacularly passed Clelend! Sadly John’s car didn’t finish but ours finished 8th out of the E-Types for Gary and 5th overall for Andy and 2nd in Class.  A fantastic result! (Check out some onboard action!)

Our third event, and second race at Brands Hatch, was competing in the E-Type Challenge at the Brands Hatch Historic Super Prix over 1-3 July.  In this race Jim was the sole driver.  Qualifying was difficult with a lot of traffic and Jim didn’t get a good clear lap.  This meant he was in 20th position on the grid 8.2 seconds behind pole sitter Jon Minshaw.  Race one was awesome though with Jim making up 11 places to finish 9th.  This was his starting position for race two and he spent a very pleasant half an hour duelling with Mike Adams!  Mike and Jim finished 7th and 8th with just 2.1 seconds separating them.

Our display at the Silverstone Classic 2011

And so we came to the Silverstone Classic.  This was the highest profile race of the season (so far) for us, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the beautiful Jaguar E-Type.  Preparation for the event was long and extremely hard with an unforeseen engine issue arising.  This was put right though and we set up stall in the new International Pits “The Wing”.  Qualifying on Friday went smoothly, with Andy and Jim completing their required laps for the two races we were entered for: The E-Type Challenge (Andy driving) and The Gentlemen Drivers Pre’66 GT Cars (Andy and Jim driving).

Andy and Jim qualified 29th for the Pre’66 GT race.  On lap 10 Andy pitted and handed the car to Jim who brought our lovely E-Type home in 33rd out of 63 cars.

Andy’s position for Race 1 in the E-Type Challenge was 21st.  Race 1 took place in my favourite timeslot, 7.45pm (there is something very evocative about evening racing!).  Sadly, halfway through the race Andy unexpectedly arrived in the pits with a large hole in the sump and so our weekend ended.

So there you have our race year so far.  Jam packed and busy but oh so much fun!  We were due to be out at Mallory next but an engine re-build beckons first.  We plan on racing next at Oulton Park .. see you there!

CT

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